


Chapter 27 - Kaz Slipped

by KaladinsSmile



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate chapter in Book 2, Crooked Kingdom Spoilers, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 20:38:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18080498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaladinsSmile/pseuds/KaladinsSmile
Summary: If In Chapter 27 of Crooked Kingdom, Kaz slipped on his way to the Slat. And Inej, who'd conveniently ignored his request not to follow him, rescues him.





	Chapter 27 - Kaz Slipped

**Author's Note:**

> I have only listened to this series, and I am likely to spell things wrong because of it. This is the only downside to Audiobooks. 
> 
> Please note I use an odd Dialogue format. Where I: and K: precede the dialogue to indicate who is speaking. This makes edits easier.

If in Chapter 27, Kaz slipped on the way to the Slat.

 

**“They were drawing closer to the Slat, but she kept to the shadows and made sure there was a good distance between her and Kaz. He had a way of sensing her presence when no one else could. He paused frequently, unaware he was being observed. His leg was troubling him worse than he’d let on.” (Direct Quote from Crooked Kingdom)**

 

Still on the outskirts of the barrel, Kaz was trying to shake off his exhaustion. He’d barely slept in three days, little more the week prior. As it was, he didn’t notice the shingle slipping from underneath his foot until he was already sliding down the roof. He grasped at anything to slow his descent with his free hand and cane. The cane caught about a foot from the edge of the roof and Kaz’s other hand grasped the lip of the roof. His whole body was dangling above the cobblestones. Three floors up. The last time he’d fallen like this, he’d gained a new ailment for the rest of his life – his limp. This time, he might not be so lucky to even survive.

For thirty seconds, he focused only on his grip and the nauseating prospect of hauling himself back up. Then a shingle tumbled over the edge beside him and he gulped. He could not hold on much longer. He had to pull himself up. His entire crew would die if he did not. Inej would die.

A bronze arm caught the sunlight as it reached down and snatched the collar of his jacket. An ankle and a single nubbly rubber sole appeared by the hand gripping the roof.

I: Grab my ankle. Climb.

Her voice was the only motive he needed. He placed a single foot against the wall of the building and pushed up, letting go of the roof in the same swift motion he snatched at her leg. She grunted, but he did not pause as he used the momentum and his cane to haul his ass back onto the roof. Once all four limbs were on the roof he felt himself hauled forward, upward. He stumbled along, her hand still gripping the collar of his coat. To a blessedly flat patch of roof with an attic window.

He looked back at the death that had been waiting for him. At the bloody space near the roofs edge where a shingle used to be. They were both breathing heavy. Inej had not spoken.

Kaz looked at her finally, his eyes still wide with distress and the near escape. Their expressions were mirrored – disbelief and relief plain for both to see. Their eyes locked.

For just a moment, he forgot who he was. He was not a tough from one of the most feared gangs in the barrel. He was not Dirtyhands. He was alive and seventeen and she was the most radiant human he had ever seen. Without thought for consequences or any hint of a plan, he pressed his lips to hers. A spark of wild passion.

It was the most wonderful sensation he’d ever lived to revel in. And he would die to do it just one more time.

They both exhaled into the space between them. His hand still cupping her cheek, she closed the space herself this time. Kissing him again with such heartfelt want and love that he thought he might go skidding off the roof again from the sheer shock of the emotion.

Inej leaned her head against his shoulder. Her calm demeanor cracking.

I: Never do that again.

For once, Kaz had no biting quip to offer her. Fueled with adrenaline that forced both corpses and thoughts of a cold harbor away, he wrapped his arms around her into an embrace.

K: You came for me.

He heaved a few more deep breaths before forming his next words.

K: Thank you, Inej.

I: You are not allowed to die without me.

Kaz snickered. Giddy despite himself. She looked into his eyes then, still encircled by his arms.

K: Without you? Inej, you are not allowed to die before me.

I: Then we have to die together, because I don’t want to spend a single second in this forsaken world without you.

He stared into those earnest eyes. What he ever did to attract a love so kind and protective, he would never understand. He did not deserve it.

K: I’m a monster, Inej. Monsters are always put down.

She squeezed him

I: You are my monster, Kaz Brekker. And I will fight Death himself to keep you beside me.

They sat there for another twenty minutes, he held her until their breathing steadied. It was only when they separated that he noticed the blood on her palm. The shingle that had fallen over the roof. The bloody space where it had been.

He took her injured hand in his gloved ones. A flash of anger in his eyes as he searched her gaze. She did not back down.

I: It will heal.

Kaz unbuttoned his coat and ripped a long strip of fabric from the bottom of his shirt. She held her palm out and he bound it efficiently. None of the trepidation and confinement he’d felt in the bathroom just an hour before greeted him now. She’d saved his life when she shouldn’t have even been following him. He’d told her not to follow.

K: It’s time. Lead me to the Slat.

She appraised him. Chewing on her lower lip.

K: I have to do this, Inej. For all of us. For you.

She took his hand.

I: Together.

K: I have to face them alone.

I: You can stand alone in front of them, but I am the Wraith in your Shadow. And my claws will be ready.

 


End file.
